Screams
by Nirianne
Summary: Screams, wails, the sound of raining tears never stopped. The land of silence continued to echo sounds, voices of the deceased. Only she heard their screams and cries as she was the one who struck them down, blade stained in crimson red. Steel to bone, steel to blood—it was all her. One-shot! R&R!


**Screams**

Screams. All I hear are screams. Why are they screaming. Why won't they stop?

_You killed me. You're responsible for taking away my daughter's freedom. You deprived her of a father. _

No. It's not my fault. I had to do it or you would have killed me. It was do or die.

_You crushed me, faceless soldier. Because of you, I'm paralyzed. _

No... It was killed or be killed. I had to do what had to be done. If I didn't pull the trigger... It would have been me in that pool of blood. I wouldn't be able to change the world.

_You are nothing. You are only but a mere girl trying to fill in an adults' shoes. You don't know your place. Nothing but a foolish girl who burdens herself with things that don't matter. _

Maybe. I did try to become an adult to protect and to serve my community. I failed...

_Ignorant little girl. Your place is amongst the dead, with us._

She was living in two nightmares; the nightmares by the slain of the real world and nightmares of the slain echoed in Valhalla.

Screams, wails, the sound of raining tears never stopped. The land of silence continued to echo sounds, voices of the deceased. Only she heard their screams and cries as she was the one who struck them down, blade stained in crimson red. Steel to bone, steel to blood—it was all her.

A life for an eternity of madness and atonement.

The nightmares shall continue as long as she breathed. Nothing could stop them; not even death itself.

A shriek sliced through the silence like butter. The terror expressed on her face was witnessing over a thousand deaths, downed by her hand. The souls of the living moving on into the Unseen Realm and locked away in shadow-filled alleys and crumbling structures.

Her body trembled like a newborn fawn, struggling to stand against the brutal waves of invisible wind. Breathing, gasping for air, she struggled to regain control of each inhaled and exhaled breath. Slapping her hand on her sweat ridden forehead, she choked.

"The voices..."

There. Again. The screams.

Lightning curled into a fetal position, covering her ears with her trembling hands. No. She didn't want to hear the screams of truth. The lives she took. The family she forcefully deprived a father of. The children screaming in orphanages. It had to be done.

She wasn't at fault!

"No... it's not my fault!"

"What is not your fault?"

The voice. His voice. Caius's voice.

"The nightmares..." she whispered, catching her breath. "The nightmares."

"You heard them?"

Lightning removed her hands from her ears and slowly pushed to sit up right. Bending her legs, she tenderly wrapped her arms around her knees while she faced the rampaging storm. Turbulent winds smashed against the shoreline, tossing, turning and destroying anything in its path. It reflected the exact same turmoil inside her mind.

"The voices—the lament of the dead. They deemed me wrong. They told me I was the cause of their deaths. It was me."

Her body shook madly, unable to stop. It had been like this since she was appointed as Valhalla's defender—Etro's Champion. Every waking moment was hell. Every sleeping moment was hell. Perhaps she deserved to be in hell, after what she had done; destroying lives, tearing families apart, slaughtering innocents, destroying enemies—anything to save her sister. No, it wasn't just for her sister. It was for the world.

"I saved the world," Lightning said, trying to convince herself. "I—we saved the world."

"You did."

Fingers tiptoed to her arms to calm down the knight.

"It is only a mere dream, Lightning. A dream cannot hurt you."

Phantom fingers slid to the loose gown strap, winding the satin strap around his finger then unwinding it. Moving the straps back on to her ivory shoulders, lips were pressed against the area then to the back of her neck.

"A dream..." Lightning repeated. "The nightmares... their voices... my fault."

A smirk spread behind her, listening to her senseless murmurs. She was conflicted, flooded with guilt of killing innocents to save one girl. She bore the burden of the world on her shoulders, deeming herself an executioner rather than humanity's savior. She and five others defied fate to save the world yet her existence was erased. The people, those who remain living, possess no knowledge of her existence. To them, she was their enemy who saved the world from complete annihilation. She was merely a crystal figure set beautifully on the plains of Pulse, waiting for the day she would be released. She was released, forgotten and rediscovered.

"Think nothing of it, my dove," Lightning listened to the whisper. "Come, close your eyes. Allow me to help silence the sounds of terror."

She wished it could be that easy.

Her sworn enemy, her lover, continued to grin at Lightning's emotional turmoil. Pulling her down onto the mattress, the guardian met her lips to comfort the feeble champion.

Gown tossed, fingers intertwined, lips locked. The knight dug her nails deeper into his skin demanding the nightmares to be erased.

Pain. She suffered too much yet she wanted to continue suffering.

Sins. She wanted to bare the sins of the past alone.

Atonement. What could she atone? In the eyes of many she died. In the eyes of a few, she lived. Staying alive is atoning for her sins she committed. Every inhaled breath reminded her of the thousands she'd slain. Every exhaled breath reminded her the next pact of souls waiting to enter Valhalla, desperately fighting the claws of death. They wanted to live. Lightning could not allow it. Their time had come whether they were prepared or not. Valhalla welcomed all; living or dead.

"Listen to me, Lightning."

Eyes locked, body frozen, limbs weak, Lightning listened.

"They are voices in your head. You did no wrong." His eyes mildly glowed a shade of red, hypnotizing the woman beneath him. "They are nothing. They deserved to die."

"Voices in my head..." Lightning repeated, mesmerized by the deadly ruby orbs.

Caius grinned. "Yes. Those men and women fought against you, did they not? They raised their weapons against you. If you died, you could never change the world. Look at what you accomplished."

Was she to believe his words? They sound too good to be true. Did she save the world? Yes. She did everything and anything for humanity. She wanted humanity to continue living on, into a brighter tomorrow.

"I saved them." Lightning whispered, heart now settled. "I did what had to be done."

Removing strands of pink locks away from her face, the guardian nodded. "It was a wise choice."

Fingers intertwined, lips locked, screams settled. Her heart was at peace.

Laying down beside her, Caius wrapped his arms around his woman. His. Slipping his fingers over her eyes, he cast a spell. For the spell would take her to a land of serenity and dreams, away from the voices of the deceased. She shall hear the lament of the dead no more.

No more screams. No more words. No more feelings of guilt.

Good night.


End file.
